The following are my two cents about the application that was made available on the Android Market/Play Store. I'm not sure if there was an iPhone app store application, but if there was - by all means let me know. (Mods - if there's already a thread of this somewhere, do what you see fit)
What I was anticipating in the "official app" was a more elegant method of keeping track of events throughout the day (panels, screenings, etc.) than utilizing either the paper guide or the .pdf provided on the website. They're both fine and dandy, and do exactly what they need to. However, I'm not a fan of the booklet myself and zooming in and out of a .pdf leaves a lot to be desired, especially when an application can provide the same kind of information when properly designed. However, what the app turned out to be was effectively a modified layout of the already-mobile version of fanime.com. I'm a bit dismayed as last year's application had the weekend schedule built into it (albeit with somewhat haphazard UI design), and this year it was absent. In designing 2015's application (if there will indeed be one next year,) I would very much appreciate the addition of the weekend's schedule included somehow in the application itself.
I have made the suggestion last year to perhaps research the possibility of transitioning to the Guidebook application. It seems to be a rather clean solution that would provide a way for users to acquire all pertinent information, including the maps, rules, and other things that the convention would like its members to know, as well as the schedules for the various events that would happen throughout the weekend, as well as give options for personal schedule-making and the like. I'd like it if the app devs to maybe consider it again instead of making a new application from scratch every year.
The point I'm trying to drive home is that the schedule is a very important part of the application that I would like to see implemented into any future iterations of the Fanime App. I hope to see an improvement in usability come next year.
What I was anticipating in the "official app" was a more elegant method of keeping track of events throughout the day (panels, screenings, etc.) than utilizing either the paper guide or the .pdf provided on the website. They're both fine and dandy, and do exactly what they need to. However, I'm not a fan of the booklet myself and zooming in and out of a .pdf leaves a lot to be desired, especially when an application can provide the same kind of information when properly designed. However, what the app turned out to be was effectively a modified layout of the already-mobile version of fanime.com. I'm a bit dismayed as last year's application had the weekend schedule built into it (albeit with somewhat haphazard UI design), and this year it was absent. In designing 2015's application (if there will indeed be one next year,) I would very much appreciate the addition of the weekend's schedule included somehow in the application itself.
I have made the suggestion last year to perhaps research the possibility of transitioning to the Guidebook application. It seems to be a rather clean solution that would provide a way for users to acquire all pertinent information, including the maps, rules, and other things that the convention would like its members to know, as well as the schedules for the various events that would happen throughout the weekend, as well as give options for personal schedule-making and the like. I'd like it if the app devs to maybe consider it again instead of making a new application from scratch every year.
The point I'm trying to drive home is that the schedule is a very important part of the application that I would like to see implemented into any future iterations of the Fanime App. I hope to see an improvement in usability come next year.